Release date: 26th February 2021
Death/sludge metal outfit Age Of Woe are back with album number three, Envenom, following on from 2016’s An Ill Wind Blowing. Although it’s a technically solid piece, it’s one of those albums that just feels a little difficult to properly get into.
Perhaps it’s the pace, but Envenom just seems to drag. There’s not much variation from song to song, and as a result it’s a struggle to connect with the music – the songs tend to blend into one another and nothing really stands out. The instrumentation is sound and the vocals are strong and sustained, but there’s something missing in the grand mix of things. It’s not awful, it’s just not that engaging.
I think a little more pace or melody would work wonders for the album, just to add a bit of spice to the seemingly endless slog of slow-moving material. It’s hard to motivate yourself to carry on listening to it all the way through, which is a shame because it does feel like Age Of Woe is capable of much more than this – after delving into their back catalogue, some of their earlier material is a little more succint and to-the-point.
4/10
